Pork Tenderloin with Baked Apples and Barley

Pork Tenderloin with Baked Apples and Barley

I hate putting up holiday decorations. After this post I will probably get my Pinterest account revoked for lack of Christmas decoration enthusiasm, but I just don't have any. This anti-love of decorations was cultivated in the 80's. My mother had a basement cubby full of decorations for every holiday, and I do mean every (did you know that you can decorate for President's Day). While she loved the decorations it fell to my father and I to actually haul up all the boxes and do the decorating while she sat on the coach giving directions. One year my dad actually pulled the Christmas tree down after my mother had him re-do the lights again for the 12th time. After that we had pre-lit trees. When my mother passed away I was sent all her ornaments. She made most of them by hand and they are beautiful. I put them up for a few years, but ultimately decided that they are treasures that I would hate to have ruined. So they sit in a carefully done box in the closet and my kids picked out a table top artificial tree last year. It's white with blue lights and tacky, but they love it. They were fine with that being the only decoration and it took minutes to put away, my idea of the perfect Christmas decoration. So this year my house will not bleed Christmas cheer with decorations, but will be brimming with the love of family shown through togetherness and a big Christmas meal. For me that is a perfect Christmas.

One of my family's favorite foods is pork. My boys love it in any form, but especially as bacon or pork tenderloin. This week I tried a new recipe for Pork Tenderloin with Apples from the October 2013 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

Old Iron Furnace 

This recipe 11 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. I used Gala apples for the apple variety since they were what was available in my area. My tenderloin took less than 25 minutes to cook, it temped at 145 degrees at 15 minutes of cooking time. Make sure to tent the tenderloin with foil for 10 minutes after baking. This allows the juices to stay in the pork and makes for a moister tenderloin.

Vesuvius Iron Furnace 

My two boys fell in love with the barley. They had never eaten it before since I can't have it and therefore I normally don't serve it for dinners. Both of them were determined it tasted like stuffing. The apples were okay, but honestly the pork was better. When taken in the same bite though the flavors complimented each other nicely. The pan sauce was delicious and perfect with the pork.

For the recipe go to Pork Tenderloin with Apples.

Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Shallots

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A perfect fall meal of pork tenderloin, baked apples and barley with parsley and shallots. A great complete meal!

Preparation Time: 0h, 20m

Total Time: 0h, 40m

Yield: Serves 4

Gluten Free White Rice Flour Pumpkin Waffles

Gluten Free Pumpkin Waffles

My house is always loud. Not just a little bit, but deafening oftentimes. Almost all of the noise can be attributed to my two boys. They seem not to have two noise levels, just loud. This is the opposite of me. I love a quiet house. When I was in my early 20's I would go on trips by myself just to hear the quiet. I love sitting in the middle of a large field with only the sound of nature (and sometimes a great book).

My two boys hate to be quiet. They love to play with their toys with tons of action noises and fight scenes. If they go more than a couple of minutes without talking they get bored. I love my two boys, but sometimes I miss being able to watch a movie or TV show and hear all the words. Most of the time I understand a fraction of the dialogue and piece the rest of it together while my kids talk in my ear. I do know that I need to enjoy it while they still talk to me since when they are teenagers they will never want to tell me anything.

I have been experimenting with new gluten free breakfast recipes. My youngest is pretty easy going food wise and likes gluten free pancakes and waffles as much as wheat based ones. Yesterday morning I tried a new recipe for Pumpkin Waffles from the Better Homes and Gardens website.

Lake Vesuvius Ohio Rock Formations 

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 12 to 14 servings. I made a number of changes to the original recipe. First I halved the recipe. I only had a half can of pumpkin, so I reduced the number of servings. Since I eat gluten free I replaced the wheat flour with white rice flour. Instead of the spices I used 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. I followed the rest of the recipe as written.

Lake Vesuvius Ohio Rock Formations 

These waffles rose beautifully. Sometimes switching flours can cause recipes to be too dense or have too much liquid, but these waffles were perfect. I preferred them topped with just butter, but they were also delicious re-heated the next day with maple syrup. This recipe would work well to make in big batches and then freeze for quick weekday meals.

For the recipe go to Pumpkin Waffles. 

Gluten Free Pumpkin Waffles

Summary:

A pumpkin waffle recipe using white rice flour. Great for making in big batches and freezing for quick weekday meals.

Preparation Time: 0h, 25m

Cooking Time: 0h, 5m

Total Time: 0h, 30m

Yield: Serves 12-14

IHOP Pumpkin Pancakes

IHOP Pumpkin Pancakes

 
My youngest tried to run into traffic yesterday. It scared me half to death. He always walks out to the mailbox with me in the afternoon and yesterday he decided to run off down the street. In two seconds he was gone and I was running like a madwoman after him. I grabbed him right before he stepped off the curb. Then he was mad the rest of the afternoon since he received a long time out. As I was on the phone with my dad last night he volunteered to talk to my youngest. I turned him down. My dad is the sweetest person in the world, except he would tell me the scariest stories to get me not to do things growing up. In order to get me not to run into the street he told me what happened to our neighbor's cat. I was 5 and I don't think I ever tried to run into the street again. He also had a story with a clown and is one of the major reasons I hate the circus. I don't remember what the lesson was about, but I'm positive I never did the behavior again. They were very effective though and I never did the behaviors again. When I pointed this out to him on the phone, he laughed and told me that he learned from grandmother. I believe him since my grandmother had a look that could turn your blood cold. Whatever you did you would never do again. Ever. I think I need to learn these skills with my youngest. He is the opposite of his older brother and once every couple of weeks does something to give me a panic attack. I think it's going to be a very long 14 years until college. Earlier in the week before the traffic incident I made IHOP Pumpkin Pancakes for my family for breakfast.

Ritter Park Huntington, WV

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 20 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First I was out of eggs so I followed the recipe with the eggs omitted. I increased the amount of pumpkin to 2/3 cup and the oil to a little under a 1/4 cup. Pancakes always turn out best for me using my griddle and that was the method I used for this recipe. They came out nicely browned and perfectly cooked.

Waterfront Huntington, WV

My kids ate these pancakes for breakfast and loved them. They had a great smell and my kids liked them with just a little bit of butter. My favorite part was that they were easy to wrap in a paper towel with a little bit of butter and walk to the bus. They were definitely easy to transport since they didn't need maple syrup. I would suggest doubling the recipe if you have big eaters. I had to make another batch in order for my whole family to have enough.

For the recipe go to IHOP Pumpkin Pancakes.

Pumpkin Spiced Pecans from Southern Living

Pumpkin Spiced Pecans

Before I had kids I never lost anything. Now it seems that every time I turn around something disappears in my house. This evening it was a 30 dollar library book. I have looked everywhere and can't find it. While in most people's houses it could be hiding behind a bookcase etc. Not in my house. I thrive on organization and could tell you exactly where everything is, everything except the library book. During the book search my husband did find an old iPhone under the seat of our car. We bought it last January used. It had 15,000 miles on it and was a rental car. I have cleaned that car top to bottom every week, but apparently the phone was stuck right up next to the under part of the seat. So my husband got to make a man's day by finding his email on the phone and telling him that his long lost phone was found. I still can't find the library book, but I'm hoping by my husband helping someone else find something lost that the universe can see fit for me to find the lost book. If not at least the day ended up with a good deed, even if it does remind me that I can't seem to find anything even if I have cleaned the same spot for almost a year. I also end the day knowing that I married a man that is sweet enough to spend two hours tracking down someone to return their lost phone. All in all the day is ending on a good note. My food posts have been a little sparse the last couple of weeks due to offline life. I'm hoping to get back into the blogging grove soon. This week I tried a new recipe for Pumpkin Spiced Pecans from the September 2013 issue of Southern Living.

Harris Riverfront Park Huntington, WV

This recipe has 6 ingredients. It takes 55 minutes of total time, 5 minutes of which is active and makes 1 1/2 cups of nuts. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First instead of apple pie spice I used pumpkin pie spice. I didn't want to have to buy a spice that I don't use, so I substituted the pumpkin pie spice that I already had. I did not add the ground red pepper since my two boys aren't big fans. Make sure to stir the pecans frequently or they will burn. Let them sit for at least 10 minutes after they are done cooking to let them get fully crunchy.

View from Harris Riverfront Park, Huntington, WV

These pecans turned out great. My whole family enjoyed them and they were the perfect blend of crunchy and spiced. I would suggest at least doubling the recipe, the 1 1/2 cups didn't last long at all. These would be a nice party snack or just a fall treat.

For the recipe go to Pumpkin Spiced Pecans.

Pumpkin Muffins

This is the time of the year that I snack a lot. When I say a lot I mean I tend to have at least three snacks a day, oftentimes more. I am lucky that I also work-out everyday and inherited my dad's great metabolism. With all my snacking lately, I have been baking a lot this month. There is something about winter that makes me want to bake and eat. This winter has been warmer than most, but not warm enough to do much outside. Since I have been inside so frequently I have experimented with a number of new recipes. Some have been great, others have needed some changes. Today It tried a new recipe for Pumpkin Muffins from the Libby's Pumpkin website which worked perfectly.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 20 servings. I made a number of changes to this recipe. The original recipe was for mini muffins. I don't own a mini muffin pan and I'm not a big fan of mini-muffins, so I chose to make full sized muffins instead. Additionally since I eat gluten free I used gluten free all-purpose flour instead of wheat flour. I also used gluten free granola. My baking time was increased to 25 minutes and I rotated the pan halfway through baking time. The recipe uses a mixer to incorprate the ingredients. I chose to mix by hand instead and they worked fine. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These muffins turned out very moist. I like that they only use a 1/4 cup of oil and they worked very well being converted to being gluten free. The granola gives the tops of the muffins a nice crunch, which was popular with my two boys. These would also work well with chocolate chips or chocolate granola on top.

For the recipe go to Pumpkin Muffins.